September 2016

Welcome Back

I really love this time
of the year! We get to welcome
all of our students,
staff, and parents back to
a new school year. I hope
everyone had a terrific summer
with their children and
grandchildren at home but
it’s time to transition back to a new school year. By the
time this article is published I expect that the first day or
days of school will already be behind us. Our students will
be connecting with their teachers and reconnecting with
their classmates. The buildings have been cleaned from
top to bottom and we are 100% ready to go. For those of
you who are parents or guardians reading this article, I am
providing you some important information.

First, it is important that we are able to connect with
parents and emergency contacts in emergency situations.
For that reason, we ask that parents update their child’s
information that we currently have on file. This can be accomplished
through InfoSnap which is our online student
registration system. You can access InfoSnap after logging
into your Powerschool Parent Account at http://powerschool.plymouth.k12.ct.us
and selecting the “Returning
Student Registration” link in the lower left of the navigation
bar. Schools will be sending letters home with further
information.

Additionally, our school and district websites are totally
revamped for this school year and will hopefully be
a terrific avenue for everyone to gain important information
about our schools. You can find useful information
on these sites and from time to time we will use our email
system and Facebook page to direct you to specific pages.
The calendar section of our websites will be kept up-to-date
throughout the year and these calendars have proven
to be particularly effective at keeping our busy parents informed.

School closings for bad weather is probably a given for
the coming winter. I will continue to use the SchoolMessenger
Notification System to alert parents as soon as possible
if we cancel or delay school. I will also update our
Facebook page immediately after any decision has been
made about a school delay or cancellation. As a parent
myself, I find that subscribing to a local news station
where I receive an automatic text can be the fastest way to
receive the information.

Our Facebook page continues to be a source of pride
for our learning community. Since we launched our Facebook
page at the beginning of last school year we have
seen a steady stream of new followers and we are closing
in on 700 followers as we enter the new year. We love
sharing pictures and stories about our work with students
on the page and giving everyone a small glimpse into our
work with the children of Plymouth. We will continue
to use Facebook to alert
folks to new information
that has been added to our
website. Consider following
us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/plymouthctschools).

As I said at the beginning
of this article, I love
this time of the year. We
stand committed to partner
with the entire Plymouth
community and provide
our students with a strong
education, an education that
works to challenge, prepare,
and inspire all students.